Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-01-06
FORCING TOWNS TO MOVE.
ARBITRARY WAYS OF THE RAILROAD
FOLKS IN THE FAR WEST.

An Old Real Estate Dealer Relates .
Bit of His Experimentation Schemes
Are Sometimes Fixed Up-An Illus
tration.
A recent arrival here is Town Let Brady,
who has earned his name by his long
career as Z dealer in town lots. The old
man is not looking as prosperous as he
used to, and il is evident that times are
not as they We're with him. Relating his
experiences last night, he said: The town
site business isn't what il was. Before
the railroads came into this country had
no difficulty in calling the turn on town
every time. | knew just where they
would be built. | have made the loca-
tion of towns study for more than thirty
years. When go into new country |
just look the ground over, and, taking
everything into consideration, l soon
come to the conclusion where the town
ought to be- Ninety-nine times in hun
dred, IL nothing out of the ordinary hap
pens to prevent, the town will grow just
where 1t ought to. I've seen that tried
and | know. When | have located the
town site and made arrangements with
few interested parties 10 take hold Of the
matter my duty is done. ! have always
made il point 10 take few lots, gener-
ally on the corners, and have left the rest
to the other fellows. / have been called
in more than hundred times by men
who were about TO locate a town and who
wanted the Judgment Of an expert on the
place TO be chosen. In such cases al
ways demand about four of the best lots
in town, and get them, too.
ABOC so FAR APART.
''You can set it down as fact that
towns in new country will be about so
far apart The lay of the land has some
thing to do with the matter, but not so
much rs many people suppose. know
some Of the best towns in the west that
are on about the poorest sites that could
be selected. You've got to take a great
many other things into view. Now, if
there is no railroad you must get a map
and find out about how the roads are run
ming, how far it is 10 the nearest one, and
from what direction the first road to be
built in the natural order of things will
come from. When you've got that set
tied take trip around the country and
find ont If it will support population and
what kind of population. After that
see the owners of the land lying around
and try and fix up scheme with them.
If they take kindly to the notion OF lay
ing out town You will not have any
more trouble. 1t is easy enough 10 get
people interested in new town after You
have found a place for it on tine map.
Before the days Of railroads ont here |
made money, but can't do IL now.
al had my pie invested in the town Of
Arbordale down here, and it was about
the finest layout for city that ! ever
saw; but when the railroad came through
the managers put their tracks right
through the town and announced that
they would have station four miles west
of It. You see, they had bought a farm
down there, and they were going to have
a town of their own. When | heard of
that called on the gentlemen and remon-
strated. told them that ArbOrdale was
the metropolis of that section and that an
attempt to ignore it would bring ruin TO
its citizens, particularly me, but they only
laughed and wanted TO know about how
much we would pay to have the station
located there.
THEY ONLY LAUGHED.
81 was rather brash then-in fact, I |
hadn't so much experience as have had !
l told them we wouldn't give |
them blame cent; we'd see their old |
road thrown into bankruptcy first. l |
threatened them with the loss Of all the |
business OF Arbordale, and asked them |
II they knew what risk they were run |
ming in ignoring the best town In that |
section. But they only laughed, and said |
they were sorry that they could not make |
some arrangement with me. IL was q
rule of modern railroading to put the sta
tions about so far apart, and as Arbordale |
was not in the right place for a railroad
town, it would have to move up out Of |
the wet.
We'll, sir, do you believe II, that road
hadn't been running two weeks before
Arbordale began 20 move. Everything
was on wheels. The hstel went first, and
then the saloons and concert halls skipped.
Pretty soon the schoolhouSe went,
then the private houses, TO he followed
last Of all by the church. The last time
was down there not q building remained
that could be moved, and the only thing
that was left to indicate the existence of
he place was lot of holes in the ground.
Ny corner lots were all there, you bet, but
~ they are not worth more than S. an
acre thought | would not bother with
hem. Now that trick has been played on
ne several times. That isn't the only
own that has moved right away from me
lnder the influence of the railroaders.
They are probably the dandy town site
men. used 70 think that was some in
hat line, but not now. And the worst
# 1t is that ordinarily you can't reason
With them at all. They know that they
lave got the call on you, and they work
he thing for all it is worth. They want
he whole hog, as found out later on"